Saturday, November 05, 2005

Seasons

We don't have four seasons here in Malaysia. At best we have two, rainy and dry. But don't we all have different seasons in our lives?

After buying my Kenwood Breadmaker, I went through a baking spree. Every other week we had home-made bread, basic butter buns, sausage rolls and the like. Nothing fancy, you understand. But eating the bread fresh from the oven with a generous slather of margarine melting in between its folds is an experience that can't be store bought. That was a couple of years back. I haven't been baking bread for who-knows how long. Only my parents-in-law know because I used to bake bread for them whenever they're down in KL. After hearing put3put4 talk about his South African roti, I thought I'd better shake off the dust from the Kenwood and bake a fresh batch. So I did. Nothing fancy. Basic butter buns but with chocolate chips decorating the top. Gave half to the in-laws while the other half disappeared in a flash into our tummies.

Then there was my sewing season. At one time I was crazy about sewing. I'd just moved into my new house and wanted to have new curtains for my house. So I spent a couple of months sewing curtains for every door and window in the house. Then it was bible-covers. Some padded, some not. A couple of years before that I even sewed "quilts" for my kids. I use this term loosely because they weren't those nice, homely quilts with Beatrix Potter like designs on them. They were just two cloths with foam in between them.

November is Nanowrimo. National Novel Writing Month. I can't write a novel in a month. I took 3 months to knock out 70,000 words of vomitty first draft earlier in the year. After that, I'd been trying to rewrite. Second, third, fourth attempts have been made without much progress : a couple of chapters per attempt. It was pathetic. Now I'm in my fifth attempt to rewrite, and this is only the second draft. Tis the season for novel rewriting. Hopefully I can finish it by end of November, in line with the Nanowrimo spirit.

3 comments:

last ramadan the malaysian officials dtg visit us and the malays ordered me to make dessert for after the prayers..i made cream cheese rolls...192 pieces in 7 hours. adoi..but my 8 yr old helped...but did assembly line style...penat wooo..but paid quite a huge amt hehehehe so worth it...

Haha! It's yours "life like that". Now you got to siau on blogs pula. Seasonal craziness does cultivate and naturalize our life!

FMHO, woman has less seasonal craziness than man. Man's life cycle is full of behavioral inclinations. These include games, gambling, fames, cars, womanizing, alcohols, money & .... and are more destructive than woman.

Over several life's periods, I've been periodically called by my wife as a fishing ghost; car ghost; gambling ghost; wine ghost; cigarette ghost and .....

Nadia, nice to know someone with similar interests :) 192 pcs of cream cheese rolls?! Wah! That's lots of work. But berbaloilah if got paid $$$$. No problem, can share-share recipes. How about the cream-cheese rolls for starters?

p3p4, looking at your list, I'm glad to be a womanlah. Let me know if your roti next day turns out nice and fluffy.

Lydia Teh

Lydia Teh's Website

About me

Author of :
1. Congratulations! You have won - A guidebook on how to maximize your chances of winning competitions,
2. Life's Like That - Scenes from Malaysian Life,
3. Honk! If You're Malaysian
4. Do You Wear Suspenders - The Wordy Tales of Eh Poh Nim 5. Stretching Your Dollar$ and $ense - More than 300 Money-saving Tips for Anyone and Everyone 6. Fun for Kids in Malaysia - An Essential Guide to Fun-tastic Activities for Children 7. The Wordy Tales of Eh Poh Nim #1 Big Bertha Meets Eh Poh Nim 8. Still Honking - More Scenes from Malaysian Life 9. Cow Sense for Young People